Shakespeare and the Stage / With a Complete List of Theatrical Terms Used by Shakespeare in His Plays and Poems, Arranged in Alphabetical Order, & Explanatory Notes

by Maurice Jonas

TITUS ANDRONICUS

I have read this disagreeable play very carefully, and can find therein no theatrical allusion of any kind.

Although included in the First Folio, and mentioned by Meres, Shakespeare’s contemporary, in a book published by him in 1598, a great many critics refuse to believe in the Shakesperean authorship. Many monographs have been written on the subject for and against. The weight of evidence is rather against the Shakesperean authorship. The plot is of a most blood-curdling nature, and many of the episodes are too terrible and nasty to be represented on the stage. There are many passages in the play which are truly poetical. It is to be hoped for Shakespeare’s reputation that he had no hand in this vile composition.